Softball Pitching Additude (10 yrs old)

[.406]

I'm coaching girls softball. Our ace pitcher throws great when she is calm, but as soon as she walks a batter she becomes frustrated and angry. This leads to more balls and a bloody vivcous cycle. Any ideas to calm her down.

PS: She is quite strong headed and arrogant.

[CoachZee]

Some of this she will just have to learn on her own, some will come from maturity and the rest might be up to her coaches. You have to cool her down with some jokes or get one of her friends on the team to go out to the mound when she sees the frustration building. Keep it light if you can. Make sure she gets enough time to pitch during practice to get better also.

If she just can't calm down ou may have to pull her from a game and have her sit the bench until she cools down. She's no good to the team when she loses her cool. That goes for any position not just pitchers but its magnified in a pitcher. A competitive young lady will get the message to cool down or at least try to or the consequence is the bench.

10 years old is very young and it make take years.

[Jake Patterson]

I'm coaching girls softball. Our ace pitcher throws great when she is calm, but as soon as she walks a batter she becomes frustrated and angry. This leads to more balls and a bloody vivcous cycle. Any ideas to calm her down.

PS: She is quite strong headed and arrogant.

When she gets cranked up have her walk around the mound once and take a big power breath before she sets up on the rubber.

If she is truly arrogant you may have to sit her a few times.

[Chris O'Leary]

I'm coaching girls softball. Our ace pitcher throws great when she is calm, but as soon as she walks a batter she becomes frustrated and angry. This leads to more balls and a bloody vivcous cycle. Any ideas to calm her down...PS: She is quite strong headed and arrogant.

I have the same problem with 2 of my 10 YO baseball players and am doing two things. First, I am teaching them some basic relaxation techniques that they can use on the mound (mostly deep breathing and positive visualization). Second, I am having them pitch simulated innings as part of their training. The thought is that if they can't learn to catch up on an imaginary batter after falling behind in a simulated inning, there's no way they'll be able to do it in a game.

[Batsics1]

The bad news is this probably won't be cured overnight. Rather than having her do something specific when she is angry, have her develop a ritual that she does before every pitch - go to the back of the circle and count to five, or some similar activity. Initially, this will occupy some of her attention and may diffuse some of the anger. If, when she is angry, she doesn't follow the ritual - I'd bet you can count on it - you can point out how much better she pitches when she is following the ritual - a positive reinforcement of an action rather than a negative reinforcement of an attitude.

Send her to the outfield instead of the bench. While benching her is probably the best thing for the team at that moment, she will tune out the game and will continue to be angry. I'm guessing she isn't your DD, so sitting on the bench probably means parents become involved too early - either berating her or telling her it's OK. In any case, she doesn't have to deal with her anger. In the outfield she has to pay attention to the game without the constant pressure of performing on every pitch. She can cool off on her own; possibly make a play which could turn her attitude around. If she refuses to participate as a fielder you treat her as you would any player, rather than as a pitcher. You also have an opportunity to relate anger/attitude to performance in general rather than specifically to pitching.

The outfield forces her to deal with her emotions alone, in the moment, with less pressure - in essence a stepping stone to what is expected of her in the circle. That's not to say that you shouldn't bench her from time to time. If possible, define the criteria that will put her on the bench - not the easiest thing to do. But, if there are specific things she does that can be identified, than it becomes her responsibility rather than your judgement.

[Ifubuildit]

406.

Take what both Chris and Bat have said and combine them. Then find a couple of good examples for her to watch. Be it at a local HS game or College game.

By examples I will use my daughter who is a Senior in HS. When a call doesnt go her way she shows no emotion. When she makes a mistake, she shows no emotion. When she walks into the dugout after a bad inning, she shows no emotion. Why? Because that is what I have taught her from day one. Do nothing to show up an umpire or if she has made a mistake her complete focus goes to "What do I have to do to fix or not let this happen again" .

We have a new coach at our HS this season. She didnt understand this about my daughter and interpreted it as she didnt care if she made a mistake, and was actually taking away playing time from her because she thought she didnt care. It wasnt until my daughter confronted her about it and told her what she was doing and that she wouldnt be there if she didnt care, that the coach then understood and quit punishing her. The coach stated to her " I guess I was just reading you wrong"

Start pointing her in the direction of how do I fix this and what do I need to do to focus and keep my composure when I pitch, so the umpire doesnt think I am showing him up. Take the time to explain it to her. It is important to her as a pitcher but much more important to your team if she stays level headed.

Elliott.

[YankeesCatcher]

Ah, I have had to deal with many arrogant pitchers.

My methods may be strange, but guranteed to work.

Once as I was catching, my pitcher complained about something I was doing and corrected me arrogantly. He was pitching very badly as well. At this point there were runners at 2nd and 3rd, I think and we were ahead 13-0. So the next pitch, a ball so far outside that I had to throw my helmet out to stop it. Annoyed, I got up and threw the ball into the outfield. On purpose, both runners scored, I looked at the pitcher in the way to let him know I meant it.

Basically, tell your catcher to take charge.

[Jake Patterson]

[QUOTE=Basically, tell your catcher to take charge.[/QUOTE]

Not at ten years old!!

[bigdaddy]

I have a 10 year old DD who pitches. Thankfully she doesn't have this personality flaw. But because I have a 10U pitcher and I coach her team this is what I do.

BEFORE the next game in which this young lady is going to pitch you sit her down and tell her that you have decided that you will no longer tolertae her bad behavior. Then you tell her in no uncertain terms that she will be pulled AT THE FIRST sign of this behavior, END OF STORY! Then go ahead and give her the ball and wait. At the FIRST sign of a meltdown, calmly walk to the circle, take the ball and send her to the bench. This is the ONLY way she'll ever "get it". If you hesitate even one second then this won't work.

Keith

[.406]

Basically, tell your catcher to take charge.

unfortionatly the catcher is the only one on the team with a worse additude

[Jake Patterson]

unfortionatly the catcher is the only one on the team with a worse additude

This is sounding more like a coaching problem than a player problem.